The present invention relates generally to remote gaming systems, and more particularly, to an off-line system for playing games of chance, including instant-type lottery games typically embodied in a ticket having multiple chances which represent a single predetermined outcome offered by a managing authority are rendered on a gaming computer as an "electronic ticket," such as, for example, a dedicated hand-held device or programmed general personal computer. In addition, the present invention provides for playing games of skill on such a device. In a lottery application, the system enables a player to play instant-type tickets on the game computer with the same convenience as typical paper scratch-off tickets at any location without the gaming computer ever having to be physically or electronically connected to a lottery system network during play, thereby providing enhanced play value for the player and greater revenues for the managing authority.
In the case of typical paper instant tickets, a computer generates a randomized prize data stream comprised of a finite series of win/lose outcomes. Each outcome is assigned to a lottery ticket, and each ticket contains one or more game chances which yield the assigned outcome. The player cannot change the ticket outcome, he or she merely scratches off certain areas of the ticket in accordance with the rules of the game to reveal the outcome. The ticket contains indicia which provide the player with a means to determine win/lose results or prize status, and the type of prize (e.g., cash or a free ticket). The aggregate of all winning outcomes in any randomized prize data stream is a predetermined percentage payout of the total revenues that would be generated by the sale of all of the tickets incorporating that particular randomized prize data stream.
In one specific embodiment of prior art paper instant ticket systems, ticket outcomes are generated by the computer tapes that control printing of the tickets. These tapes contain each outcome for any given run of tickets. The outcomes are created using essentially similar methods throughout the industry. For example, a run of 24 million tickets that has 120 top payouts of $10,000 and a payout percentage of 55%, may be broken up into 100 blocks of 240,000 tickets each. The $10,000 winners will be distributed as evenly as possible among the 100 blocks, so there will be at least one top prize in each block, with 20 blocks having two top prizes. The 80 blocks without the two top prizes will be compensated by offering more low and mid-tier prizes, so that the payout percentage is exactly 55% for each 240,000 ticket block. Each of these 240,000 ticket blocks is broken up into books of tickets, typically 200 to 400 tickets per book. Tickets are delivered to retailers in book units, where each ticket has two identifying numbers, a book/ticket number and a validation number. The book/ticket number is usually printed on the back of the ticket. An exemplary book ticket number is "089-46127-234." The "089" identifies the game, in this case a State.times.$3 "Win for Life." The "46127" is the book number, which in this case means that this ticket is from book number 46127. The "234" identifies this ticket as the 234th ticket from this book. The validation number is printed under the latex surface on the front of the ticket. This number is the key to determining whether or not the ticket is a winner. When a winning ticket is presented for prize redemption, the retailer types this number into an agent terminal, from which access to a central database of instant tickets provided by the ticket printer is obtained to search the record of outcomes for that run of tickets. This database resides in a separate computer at the main computer center of the online service provider (such as GTECH).
To prevent fraud, the validation number cannot be seen without scratching off the latex covering material. If the validation number were visible without requiring that the latex be removed first, retailers could check whether or not each ticket was a winner, and then keep winning tickets for themselves, selling only the losing tickets to customers. In this connection, the validation number is typically comprised of nine (9) digits. An illustrative validation number for the above "Win for Life" ticket is: 71069-7041. This number singularly identifies this ticket from the millions of tickets that are printed for that game. It is important to note that this number is encoded and not in sequential order. If the latter was the case, retailers could buy one ticket for themselves and check its validation number. They could then enter the next ten validation numbers into the online system to determine whether any were winners. Again, customers might be sold the losing tickets while the retailer kept the winners. Encryption prevents this, because knowing one validation number provides the retailer with no information about the next number.
Some lotteries place restrictions on the distribution of outcomes, including limits on the number of high tier winners per book; how many consecutive non-winning tickets Y% of the time; and the maximum number of non-winning tickets per row. In arranging the lottery, the authority decides how many tickets are to be sold, the payback percentage of the game as a whole, and what prizes will be awarded and the frequency of winning tickets among the total number of tickets. For example, if the lottery wanted to sell a total of 20 tickets and have a payout percentage for the game of 50%, they might need to pay $10 total for the game. This might consist of one $5 winner, one $2 winner, and three $1 winners and may be represented as: 5, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. Note that the process so far has been completely deterministic. There is no randomness at all. Of course the lottery does not want to have the first five tickets sold to be winners, so it randomizes the order of the tickets. The resulting sequence might look like the following: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1. As tickets are requested by players, they are removed from the sequence of outcomes. From the above set of outcomes, a player requesting four tickets might buy four losers--0, 0, 0, 0. If the next player requested three tickets, he or she may get 0,1,0. The next three tickets sold might be 2,0,0. This process continues until the entire sequence of outcomes is exhausted. Of course the computer can also pull outcome requests from the game sequence at random, so that a request for three outcomes could get the outcomes in location 5, 8, and 11 (which might correspond to 0,2,5). These outcomes would then be eliminated from the game sequence so that the next player cannot get the same sequence
The lottery ticket may also contain a batch number that is typically visible on the ticket in the form of a bar code. All tickets in a given master carton are part of the same ticket lot and are sold at the same price point. Each master carton is labeled with a unique master carton serial number which is tracked by a central management computer associated with the managing authority. The central management computer also stores every ticket serial number and the associated outcome for that ticket. When the instant tickets are to be sold to customers, the lottery retailer communicates the master carton serial number via his on-line agent terminal to the central management computer and thereby activates all of the paper instant tickets in each master carton. This action activates all of the ticket serial numbers in that master carton, and typically causes the lottery retailer's lottery bank account to be automatically debited for the wholesale cost of that master carton within a specified time period.
To redeem a winning paper lottery ticket, the player presents the same to a redeeming agent, either at a lottery retailer or lottery office, or mails the ticket in for redemption. To effectuate the redemption process, the redeeming agent scans the bar code on the ticket which represents the batch serial number on the ticket through a bar code scanner associated with the agent terminal. The ticket agent also enters the ticket serial number into the agent terminal. These ticket serial numbers are transmitted to the central management computer for purposes of validation. When the central management computer receives a validation request, it activates an on-line validation program which queries a ticket value database using the particular ticket and batch serial numbers to confirm that the ticket came from an activated master carton. If the ticket value database confirms a payout, the validation program authorizes the lottery retailer to pay the player cash or provide another prize (e.g., a free ticket).
In other paper instant ticket systems, there is no central management computer that manages the system from a purchase and redemption standpoint. The lottery retailer simply buys tickets from a printer, resells them to players, and then handles all aspects of validation and payment of winnings.
All prior art paper instant ticket systems suffer from several drawbacks. These include the costs of printing tickets, the physical inventory costs, the costs to the managing authority and retailer associated with unsold tickets, the inability to effectively offer low-price games (e.g., $0.25, $0.10), the limited game choices for the player, and the stigma associated with paper tickets as appealing toward lower income players, among others.
As an alternative to instant paper tickets, systems have been devised which replicate instant tickets on a computer terminal or gaming machine. An example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,035, which discloses an on-line video gaming system comprised of a plurality of slave terminals, a plurality of master processing units, and a central game processor. A plurality of slave terminals are networked to each master processing unit and all of the master processing units are networked to the central game processor. The central game processor downloads fixed pools of game plays to each master processing unit. The slave terminals request game plays from the fixed pool in the master processing unit. The group of slave terminals coupled to a particular master processing unit display indications of the chances of purchasing one of the remaining winning plays in that pool to provide an element of competition between players situated at the various slave terminals. Thus, players at each slave terminal may decide to wait for the odds of purchasing a winning play to increase by allowing other competitors to purchase some of the remaining non-winning plays. Although this system is capable of rendering instant paper tickets in a video format, its primary drawback is that it is a networked on-line system. Every play (outcome) requested by the slave terminal must be downloaded on-line from the master processing unit. Accordingly, this system is limited in that players can only engage in lottery play at specified locations.
Another on-line video gaming system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,998. This system comprises a plurality of remote terminals networked to a central controller which generates a prize pool based upon a pool seed which is fed to a random number generator. The central controller divides the prize pool into mini-pools, each of which has a known amount of low-end prize value (e.g., all prizes of $25 or less). There are a selected number of larger prizes which are distributed among the mini-pools where some mini-pools have a large prize and some have none. Mini-pools are assigned to each terminal for each game which is rendered on the terminal as needed. The remote terminals have means for randomizing each mini-pool assigned to the terminal using a mini-pool seed provided by the central controller to feed a random number generator using a randomizing algorithm. When the central processor has assigned all mini-pools within a pool, the central processor creates a new pool. After players have played a sufficient number of games to exhaust an entire mini-pool at a given remote terminal, it connects to the central controller and is assigned a new mini-pool. This system also has significant limitations. Because the prize structure in the mini-pools is assigned to each remote terminal in a "dynamic state", i.e., the remote terminal is assigned active outcomes before a player engages in play, it is necessary to provide various security measures in the remote terminals to prevent an unscrupulous player from "looking ahead" by "hacking" the machine and determining the outcome sequence in any given mini-pool. Otherwise, a player might learn at what point in the mini-pool a large win will occur for the game being played and then wait to play until when a favorable outcome is due to occur. This characteristic renders such a system vulnerable to hacking since a player could conceivably view the outcomes stored in the device prior to purchase.
It is therefore desirable to provide an off-line system in which a player can enjoy games having a predefined outcome determined by a managing authority or the like on a gaming device, without the need to be physically or electronically linked to a central management computer associated with the managing authority during play, where "ticket" purchase and redemption of winnings may be done at virtually any location, and where the managing authority is not at risk of being cheated since there are no secrets stored in the device.